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The wind snatched at Nadia’s hair, sending her black locks swirling upward, away from her heart-shaped face, as she closed her eyes Mateo found it fascinating to watch her cast a spell No, she didn’t utter spooky incantations in Latin or anything like that--but still, there was so about her expression at that moet all the cares of this world and becohtened him a little But it was always, always beautiful

Then he sawamid the storm, and Mateo knew his Steadfast power had revealed her true power at work--battling Elizabeth at last

Elizabeth was depositing the eyes of her latest crow in her jar when she heard a rustling froh her house to find her Book of Shadows fluttering on the floor, like a dying bird As she knelt by its side, however, it fell open to ale, to one of the spells she’d learned as a child: a spell of forgetting

Even as she looked down at it, she felt a strange fogginess descend upon her thoughts--as though she were sleepy, or dizzy, or--

Instantly she called upon a spell of repulsion The fog dissipated in an instant, and Elizabeth gaped in shock at Nadia’s audacity That child had thought to undo her with one of the most basic spellsand had she not been warned, it could even have worked The ; no doubt she was on a bridge or in a boat, using the fluidity of the water to strengthen her ed Elizabeth

And yet she was reminded: Simplicity was sometimes the best weapon

So Elizabeth cradled her Book of Shadows in her arain and cast another very simple spell: a spell to move water

"Did it work?" Verlaine cried

"I’m not sure," Nadia said The as so sharp she felt as though it were trying to carve her flesh froe It seee in this town, son that Elizabeth had been affected

Then she felt the bridge rock beneath her feet She staggered to one side and heard Verlaine cry out

"Nadia?" Mateo called The bridge swayed again, as though it were a horse trying to buck the to come in all at once!"

It didn’t work, Nadia realized Elizabeth knows She’s doing this

And the bridge collapsed